Bloomberg View – Mark Grant: The Risks in Central-Bank Balance Sheets Are Clear There has so been much attention paid to the Federal Reserve recently in terms of what policy makers are saying and doing that it’s time to correct some observations. At its June policy meeting, the Fed announced it would begin shrinking its balance… Continue reading Balance Sheet Normalization
Bloomberg Gadfly – Liam Denning: Why It’s So Hard to Find Bargains in America’s Pipelines In theory, America’s pipelines sector should be a candy store for value investors. The benchmark Alerian MLP Index remains 52 percent below its August 2014 peak and yields a heady 8.3 percent. Oil prices, while nowhere near the levels of three years… Continue reading Finding Value In The Pipeline Sector
The Wall Street Journal – Value Stocks Over Growth Stocks? Fat Chance Value stocks are at last trouncing growth shares. But it won’t last for long. The best hope for those who like value stocks would be a shift to faster U.S. growth and inflation. Mr. Trump’s economic team insist that tax cuts will feed through into… Continue reading Value vs Growth Stocks
The Wall Street Journal – Wall Street Banks Hit Pause Button on Bitcoin As investors rush into bitcoin, some big Wall Street banks are hitting the brakes. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Inc. and Royal Bank of Canada are telling customers that they won’t offer them access to the first bitcoin futures market when it goes live Sunday, people… Continue reading Your Daily Dose Of Bitcoin Headlines
Bloomberg View – America Is Getting the Make-Work Jobs It Needs A year ago, I argued that lots of people don’t just want material goods — they crave the dignity that comes from working for a living. Even jobs that economists might deride as make-work can yield meaning, self-respect and social status. For this reason, I suggested that the government… Continue reading Productivity In the Workforce
The Financial Times – Not all US credit investors envisage a trouble-free 2018 Lofty valuations and increase in long-dated bonds exposes portfolios to rate shock For all the general talk of 2018 being another year characterised by contained levels of volatility and long-term bond yields, some investors do fear a potential void in demand for US… Continue reading US Corporate Bond Sales
The Wall Street Journal – Fed’s Dudley Says High College Costs Lower Economic Mobility College has become out of reach for large numbers of students, making it harder for them to earn more than their parents and limiting economic mobility, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said Thursday. College costs have risen faster… Continue reading Dudley On The Student Loan Crisis
Bloomberg Business – Central Banks Aren’t the Only Ones Goosing Growth There’s a potentially powerful cocktail here: central banks withdrawing stimulus, but still relatively accommodative eight years into an economic expansion, and fiscal policy getting some groove. This at a time when everyone is abuzz with the geographically synchronized growth upswing. It’s like an extra shot with… Continue reading Will 2018 Be The Year Of The “Great Economic Experiment?”
Summary A continued exit from technology in favor of financials and sovereigns looks possible into year-end. History indicates flows out of technology-based ETFs is accompanied with a drop in U.S. Treasury yields. Comment The chart below shows the percentage of days over the previous three months seeing inflows for technology (blue) and the defensive sectors… Continue reading Technology’s Dominance Tempering, Likely a Boost for USTs
Bloomberg – Emerging Markets Turn Into Latest Pain Trade There’s an old saying on Wall Street that markets will tend to do whatever causes the most pain. And the selloff in EM comes as almost everyone seems to be piling in. The Institute for International Finance said last week that net capital flows to EM were on… Continue reading G10 and BRICs Economic Surprises Have Yet to Converge
Bloomberg – China’s Push to Trade Oil in Yuan Faces a Key Hurdle Success seen hinging on how much freedom officials will allow China’s moves to set up trading oil in yuan have sparked enthusiasm about what could be a shift in the global financial system: a reduced role for the U.S. dollar. Players like… Continue reading Trading Oil in Yuan